The Woman Left Behind by Linda Howard

Published: William Morrow
Date:   6th March 2018
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 400
Genre:Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Rating:
                               

Levi Butcher is singularly devoted to his work. As team leader for the GO-Team, his unwavering focus is on the mission. Levi knows all too well that one minor distraction can hold deadly consequences. But with the soothing, sensual voice of “Babe,” the team’s communication expert, constantly in his ear, keeping his concentration on the dangerous work at hand is becoming extremely difficult.

Jina Modell definitely doesn’t feel like a “Babe,” especially when she’s working with the gruff, no-nonsense Levi. When the base where she’s stationed is attacked, Jina manages to escape but the rest of the team, working some distance away, is exfiltrated, thinking Jina died in the explosion—leaving her stranded. To survive, she’s got to figure out how to get back to safety before she’s discovered by the enemy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this military like romantic suspense novel - The Woman Left Behind by Linda Howard. It was pure escapist reading, that kept me up reading two nights in a row. 

Jina or "Babe" as her team name her to her disgust, is a gritty, sassy and very able young woman who just cannot quit. Her brothers have given her the basis for that and now when she finds herself thrown into a entirely new and different experience, she does not give up.

The team is a little like a Seal team, they train hard and they go on missions that involve stealth and secrecy. They might be government approved but they are not 'official'. The team is led by Levi or Ace as he is known to his team, on the first day that Jina turns up for training with a new group, they draw her out and make sure they train her. Its gruelling stuff, not for the fainthearted. However Jina is not one to take any nonsense and she has a mouth on her and the ability to stand up to them.  And very soon bonds are formed and they are moving towards trust. I loved the whole team aspect and the guys on the team. The training period takes up a good deal of the story, and I liked that - all the challenges and the final one of parachuting which Gina finds really difficult.

Then they are out on missions and Gina is out with them, its her job to operate a drone that surveys the field while the team carry out there task - which usually involves weapons. And then one time things go really wrong and Gina is left on her own and lets just say it rocks her world.

A romance is obviously brewing - Gina and Levi are attracted to one another, but because they work on a team together they can't let it go any further. Watching the two sidestep each other was very entertaining - right through to the final resolution.

Action, romance, a little suspense and team comradeship. Now and then its just the kind of read I find perfect.